Help with watercooling (I found a kit is it any good?)

Well actually on other thought i am trying to cool off my Radeon HD 4870 Video Card and my CPU (Intel Core 2 Duo E8400) were i can overclock both. Not Extreme overclocking but i do want a decent overclock and i like things to be quite but mostly i want to OC. Any help is appreciated, Thanks!
 
Hi, I'm one of the main watercoolers here. I'd like you to please step away from ANY watercooling products with the Thermaltake name. They break, can't cool near what they say and are shunned 100% in the experianced WC world.

Now thats out of the way, I have to ask what is your budget. I have posted this 10-20 times in the last few months. Here is a basic price breakdown for your CPU and GPU. It's a bit on the low end in cost, but it will give you an idea of what quality (no other reason or you will be sorely disappointed) WC costs for a CPU/GPU loop like you have.

CPU HS $65
GPU HS and air HS for vram and mosfets $70
Radiator $60
Pump $80
Resiviour $25
Hose, some barbs and clamps etc (min $25, more like $35)

I went top notch and spent close to $600 to cool my CPU and GPU.

Thats not the best you can get, but enough for a solid WC loop. Here is a TON of links for you to learn from and some helpful hints.
...............................................
First you gotta learn about WC. It's not like walking into Best Buy.
Spend a while (weeks is best for your sanity) at these links.
Look at the hundreds of loops close to your case and components in the stickies, read a couple 50 or so threads over the next week or so, you'll be on the ball to make the right choices and by then know how to put it together.
Not 'Roket Sience', but basic knowledge is required.
And you should spend a few hours on this site reading threads. It's how we learn. Once the goodies show up on your doorstep your on your own.
For your benefit please spend a few days reading a LOT. At the busiest places for WC masters. Guys who have done it for YEARS at OC forums and xtreme forums. It took me a while (I was OCing on air, aftermarket stuff, bios settings, best chipsets etc etc) to learn the language and the tricks to a easy install.

Don't expect miracles or SUPER DOOPER over clocks. What you will get is a quiet system that can handle OC to the max of your hardware IF you buy quality and buy smart. And minor maintenance too, a bonus for the water cooler.

Also while there please read on case mods etc. The radiators are not for small cases, pumps and hose routing, wire management and other things are important. Google your planned case and the word water-cooled in one line. You might get lucky.

IF you just cool your CPU and your NB if you want, you can get by with a 120.2 sized radiator (RAD). And MAYBE fit in inside depending on your mod skillz. You want to cool your GPU too, you'll need a 120.3 sized rad, and it probably won't fit inside. The rear external rad really works great. No matter what your adding 15lbs to your PC, maybe 20lbs.

Once you got an idea of what is good/bad then start getting your system for WC put together and we'll be glad to help.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/index.php? Not a noob site, but great stickies
http://www.ocforums.com/ My fav, good peeps, know their stuff, less hardcore
http://www.skinneelabs.com/MartinsLiquidLab/
http://www.over-clock.com/ivb/inde [...] opic=20277 A GREAT Europe site
http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/
http://translate.google.com/transl [...] n&ie=UTF-8 Info on rad testing
http://skinneelabs.com/

Stores
http://www.dangerden.com/index.php [...] e&Itemid=1
http://www.petrastechshop.com/
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/
http://www.jab-tech.com/
 
He has moved on to a real forum already, a BIG learning experiance.

Toms Hardware, the Radio Shack of PC help (I dunno Sir, I know nothing except Nintendo, wanna buy a remote control toy?).
 
I personally take offense to how you refer to those of us at Tom's. You are correct in stating that we are a more generic forum, but that is exactly the point. Tom's forums cover a wide range of topics; everything from digital cameras, to networking to those of us who frequent the cooling forums. You are also correct that OC and XS are more of a specific collection of die-hard, specialists, but giving us negative light is where I see the fault.

I know that I have mentioned this to you before, but it seems like your intention here is to mock and give snide remarks and then refer users to 'real' forums instead of here. If Tom's is that much of an embarassment, please just let us continue the help we provide here. We appreciate your help and knowledge, but do not appreciate the condescending approach.
 


My dad always called me a "jack of all trades, master of none"...and he was right! :lol:

If you limit yourself to knowing everything about one thing, you have no one who can share info with you.

So weeeeeeeee...I'm a more generic user! :lol: